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History of the Crayola No. 64
Crayola introduced the Crayola 64 crayon box in 1958. Introduction When Crayola introduced their largest box of crayons to date, the No 64 box in April 1958 they clearly had a winning package on their hands. They took their earlier design from the 1948 No 48 box with the flip-back lid and expanded that into the wider box we are still using today. In addition, they created a first among crayon boxes: the built in sharpener in the back. It was an ingeniously simple idea that they quickly patented. It was through this patent that we can begin to put together the earliest sequence of boxes too. Perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions is what the original box looked like. The one used to replicate for the 40th anniversary of the product back in 1998 was actually the second design of the box. The white arrow banner used to direct the consumer to the back of the box and to their nifty sharpener was clearly the biggest difference between the first several boxes. This particular design, for whatever reason, didn’t last very long at all, perhaps only a month. This could be validated because on the back of the box, it indicated “Patent pending”. There are no examples of this box with anything other whereas, the more commonly recognized red banner box can be found not only with “Patent pending” but also with the actual Patent number once it had been approved on October 28, 1958. The color line up for this original box was: Apricot, Aquamarine, Bittersweet, Black, Blue, Blue Gray, Blue Green, Blue Violet, Brick Red, Brown, Burnt Orange, Burnt Sienna, Cadet Blue, Carnation Pink, Copper, Cornflower, Flesh, Forest Green, Gold, Goldenrod, Gray, Green, Green Blue, Green Yellow, Indian Red, Lavender, Lemon Yellow, Magenta, Mahogany, Maize, Maroon, Melon, Midnight Blue, Mulberry, Navy Blue, Olive Green, Orange, Orange Red, Orange Yellow, Orchid, Periwinkle, Pine Green, Plum, Raw Sienna, Raw Umber, Red, Red Orange, Red Violet, Salmon, Sea Green, Sepia, Sky Blue, Silver, Spring Green, Tan, Thistle, Turquoise Blue, Violet, Violet Blue, Violet Red, White, Yellow, Yellow Green, Yellow Orange Wavy Corporate Logo Retirement and New Colors 1990 marks the official retirement of 8 colors and the introduction of 8 new colors. To commemorate the event, Crayola created a special Hall of Fame box for the Crayola No 64 line. On August 7, 1990 Crayola officially retired eight of their colors and put them into their Crayola Hall of Fame at the Crayola Factory. By this time they had formally dropped their DTC (development through creativity) logo from all packages and for this box they replaced that with an official banner for the dedication with the colors listed on both sides. Once Crayola completed honoring the retired colors with a Hall of Fame tribute box they immediately put out their new color introduction box. There are several firsts here. Not since the introduction of the Crayola No 64 had there been any brand new colors introduced. They took advantage by creating a pink banner across the bottom of their new box design. This is also the first appearance of their “mascot” Tip. For this special box they also moved the “Different Brilliant Colors” over to the left of the mock window under the 64 to make room for another small pink banner on the right side to promote the new colors. New standard Crayola planned their future back in 1990 by not only retiring old colors and introducing new colors and special promotion boxes to do so but they also planned what came next after all the promotions were over which is why we have a 1990 dated box that didn’t hit the market until mid to late 1991. All of the fanfare from the promotion box was gone from their new standard box. They moved the “Different Brilliant Colors” back over to the right side and left the box with a minimal clean look. Assortment gets 7 fluorescents In 1994, with the introduction to Non-Toxic 64 crayon boxes, seven colors were swapped out to make room for seven fluorescent colors. Here are the changes below: Aquamarine was swapped out for Blizzard Blue Indian Red was swapped out for Wild Watermelon Jungle Green was swapped out for Screamin' Green Plum was swapped out for Unmellow Yellow Raw Sienna was swapped out for Outrageous Orange Sepia was swapped out for Laser Lemon Wild Strawberry was swapped out for Hot Magenta Jungle green and Forest Green swapped before it was swapped out for Screamin' Green. Vivid Tangerine was originally going to be replaced by Atomic Tangerine but it was replaced by Asparagus instead. Mulberry was originally going to be replaced by Shocking Pink, but was replaced by Tickle Me Pink instead. Maroon was originally going to be replaced by Razzle Dazzle Rose, but it was replaced by Timber Wolf instead. Teal Blue was originally going to be replaced by Magic Mint, but instead it was replaced by Purple Mountain Majesty. Navy Blue was originally going to be replaced by Electric Lime, but instead it was replaced by Granny Smith Apple. Cerulean was originally going to be replaced by Purple Pizzazz, but instead it stayed. Peach was originally going to be replaced by Sunglow, but instead it replaced by Tumbleweed. Copper was originally going to be replaced by Radical Red, but instead it was replaced by Mauvelous. Royal Purple was originally going to be replaced by Neon Carrot, but instead it replaced by Wisteria. Bye-bye fluorescents In 1996, crayola said goodbye to the 7 fluorescents from the lineup. Here are the following changes: Blizzard Blue swapped out and Aquamarine came back. Hot Magenta swapped out and Wild Strawberry came back. Laser Lemon swapped out and Sepia came back. Outrageous Orange swapped out and Raw Sienna came back. Screamin' Green swapped out. Jungle Green was originally gonna come back but instead of that, Pacific Blue was added for some reason. Shocking Pink swapped out and Plum came back. Wild Watermelon swapped out and Indian Red came back. Rainbow underline Kids Choice